Difference Between Luck And Talent
by shesarebelxx
Summary: Now that Jesse's left, Vocal Adrenaline knows they've lost a huge component that made them the winners they were. But when a new, better guy comes in, and word gets out, how will everyone react? Mostly St. Berry!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Glee story, though not my first story ever...so have some faith in me.**

**Despite what this chapter leads on, this story WILL be focused mostly on Vocal Adrenaline and Rachel will probably be the only New Directions person making a regular appearance.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing written here except characters I created. I am not associated with Ryan Murphy, the cast of Glee (only in my dreams), or any other of the creators.**

* * *

Chapter 1

"Guys!" Rachel yelled, running down the hallway towards the choir room, where the rest of New Directions were sitting sprawled across the room, already ready to start practice.

Finn looked up, hearing Rachel's voice. "She's five minutes late," he said.

"Argyle's never late. I hope she's not here to tell us about some new show on Broadend or Westway or something," Puck said, playing around with his guitar.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "You mean Broad_way_ or West _End_?" he asked. "Boys." He muttered under his breath, to which Mercedes responded with a nod.

"Guys," Rachel said, running in, obviously out of breath, leaning against the piano for support.

"What's the matter?" Quinn asked. "Running from that Jewfro kid again?"

"You shouldn't run from the only guy who doesn't mind those sweaters that make you look homeschooled," Santana said.

"If Rachel goes to school at her house…why do we see her here every day?" Brittany asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "No guys, listen," she said. "So I was spying on Vocal Adrenaline-"

"Rachel, I thought you said you were going to stop that after that time where they almost caught you!" Mr. Schuster said.

"That changing room could've very easily been a bathroom. How was I supposed to know it was Jesse's dressing room?" Rachel asked. She briefly flashed back to where she had almost walked in on Jesse changing, shaking her head to get the image out of her mind.

Mr. Schuster rolled his eyes. "You were saying," he said, motioning her to continue.

Rachel nodded, stepping up the center of the room, the way she stood indicating she had important news, not that she didn't announce everything like it was crucial news, as long as it got her the attention she felt she deserved.

"So I was spying on Vocal Adrenaline and I heard them talking about how now that Jesse was gone, they know they're not the same team anymore," Rachel said. "I even heard them say that they aren't sure they can win Regionals this year." Rachel straightened up and allowed a proud smile to come onto her face as she heard the room burst into noise and cheering.

All of them started talking excitedly, as they realized that if Vocal Adrenaline wasn't a lock for first, they could be. Even Mr. Schuster joined in on the excited chatter.

"See guys?" he said over the noise, causing the room to quiet down. "This is our year! We're going to breeze through Sectionals and then…we're gonna take home the first place trophy in Regionals and show Carmel whose boss!"

The room cheered and clapped, and more chatter ensued as the group started planning their numbers for Regionals, six months from now.

"But we can't think about Regionals until we think about Sectionals," Mr. Schuster said. "So…who has some ideas?"

* * *

"We're screwed," Giselle said as she paced the huge stage of Carmel's auditorium, her shoes echoing in the abandoned room. "What the hell are we supposed to do now that Jesse left?"

"Why didn't they just fail him like they did the rest of us?" Travis, one of the oldest members of Vocal Adrenaline at twenty four, asked. "What made him so special? Especially since they knew he was our golden ticket."

"I heard his parents threatened to sue the school if they failed him. And God knows they would win," Haylee said. She sighed, laying down on the stage. "I miss him…"

"Oh give it a rest, Haylee," Giselle snapped. "It was one time, and he only slept with you because he was upset about leaving Berry. We all knew he still loved her for whatever reason, and you were a sad attempt at getting his mind off of her."

Haylee rolled her eyes, playing with her hair. "Whatever," she muttered. Words were not one of Haylee's strong suits. She, like many of Vocal Adrenaline, deserved to be held back as many times as they had been.

"First we lose Jesse to UCLA, now Shelby to that kid," Giselle said. "Our reign _cannot_ be over! Not this quickly! We were more than Jesse! He was only a voice!"

"Are you kidding?" Haylee asked. "He was amazing, Giselle. He made us the champions we were. His voice was better than anyone's. Even when he left to go be with that mediocre show choir, people started talking."

Giselle let out a yell in frustration. "We can't be over! I've given my _life_ to this choir! Now to have it all crumble down because Jesse 'Needed to go on to bigger and better things'? I don't think so," she said.

"What can we do?" David, another older member of Vocal Adrenaline, piped up. "Everyone who is good enough is already _in _Vocal Adrenaline."

Giselle sat down, running her hand through her hair, looking around.

"We can't be over," she muttered. "We just…we can't be."

* * *

"Rachel," Mr. Schuster called as the rest of the Glee club left the room. He motioned for her to wait, waiting for the room to clear out before he started talking.

"How are you holding up?" Mr. Schuster asked, sitting down next to where Rachel was sitting.

Rachel shrugged. "Fine, I guess," she said, playing with the fabric of her dress. "I mean, Glee club's back on its way to the top, Vocal Adrenaline's on its way down, so of course I'm great."

Mr. Schuster sighed, looking at Rachel. "You haven't been yourself lately," he said. "You've been quieter."

"I thought people would appreciate that," Rachel said. "Finn always says I talk too much. I just think it's because I have a lot of opinions people should hear, but apparently no one else agrees."

Mr. Schuster laughed, but didn't deny what Rachel said. "But still," he started, "Ever since Regionals you've seemed depressed. I would've thought you and Finn would be together, it's what you've always wanted, right?"

Rachel sighed. "Mr. Schue, I love Finn. But I just don't love him that way. I gave myself to Jesse more than I thought I did, and I just…I can't forget him as easily as I thought," she said, looking away, obviously embarrassed to admit this to a teacher.

Mr. Schuster sighed. "I understand what it's like to lose someone you loved. Is that why you're continuing to spy on Vocal Adrenaline?" he asked.

Rachel nodded slowly.

Mr. Schuster looked around the room, the look on his face indicating he was choosing his next words carefully.

"Rachel…Jesse hurt you for his own selfish gain," Mr. Schuster said softly. "You realize this, right?"

"With all due respect, Mr. Schue, you didn't see him when he looked at me at the end of Regionals. There was something there. And I know an acting face versus a true feeling," Rachel said. "I swear, there's more to the story than I know."

Mr. Schuster sighed, opening his mouth, no doubt to argue with her some more, but then closed it, deciding against it.

"You're not going to stop spying, are you?" Mr. Schuster asked.

Rachel shook her head.

"Figures," Mr. Schuster said. "You always were a stubborn one, Rachel."

Rachel grinned proudly, "My Dads say stubbornness is a trait that gets you far in show business. They encourage it, actually," she said.

Mr. Schuster nodded, laughing a little. "At least make it worthwhile for the club too. Give us updates on what Vocal Adrenaline's doing, and if they get a new lead," he said, standing up.

"Of course," Rachel nodded. "You guys will be the first to know."

"Thanks Rachel," he said, walking to the door. Before he left, he turned around and looked at her.

"Rachel?"

"Yes Mr. Schue?"

"Mind your heart, okay?" Mr. Schuster asked.

Rachel nodded slowly. "Thanks, Mr. Schue."

* * *

**Okay, now tell me what you think! :)**

**I'll post another chapter...as soon as I write it. hehe**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day at Carmel, all of Vocal Adrenaline stood crowded around their usual area at the quad, looking around as they surveyed the crowd of students shuffling in from different doors of the school.

"Giselle, what exactly is the point of this?" Travis asked, though it came out more like whining. "Everyone in this school goes through an audition the first day of school. There's not anyone here who hasn't already tried."

Giselle ignored Travis's intelligent point, refusing to believe that someone who didn't know the difference between immolate and emulate could have actually made sense.

"That doesn't matter," she said, brushing off his words. "We need a lead, and we are going to find him. We will _not_ lose to that school that belongs on the Island of Misfit toys."

The first warning bell rang, causing all of the students around Vocal Adrenaline to speed up, the halls suddenly shaking with noise of lockers closing, people running, and laughs echoing the halls. Vocal Adrenaline stayed still, though. Everyone knew Vocal Adrenaline could essentially set the school on fire and get away with it as long as they took home Nationals, an antic Travis had tried not more than a few months earlier.

As the hallways clear, Giselle sighed, obviously accepting defeat, and realizing that, while obviously none of them would attend their first period, they should head to their normal first period hang out in the back of the school in the courtyard. Again, they never worried about hiding because they were, after all, Vocal Adrenaline.

Giselle reached for her phone, looking at the time, (she never bothered to use the clocks the school provided. Analog? Really?) when all of the sudden she felt herself walk straight into another body. She had bumped into almost every member of Vocal Adrenaline, whether that be during dance rehearsals, or in a more intimate way (Shelby often said that the way Vocal Adrenaline interacted with each other outside of practice was _Jersey Shore_ worthy, not that Giselle would ever associate herself with such a show), but she didn't recognize this body at all. It was small, certainly not scrawny, however not nearly as much muscle build as Vocal Adrenaline's male dancers.

She stumbled backwards, thankfully not falling, as she could never afford an injury, looking to see who had been so careless as to bump into her (she would never admit that she shouldn't have been texting). She saw a young man, probably a senior, or maybe a junior-they all looked young to Giselle-stumbling himself as he defied gravity, not falling, with help from the guitar case he was holding.

He seemed the like typical indie kid that Carmel was full of; those kids who carried around guitar cases but never opened them, and were always listening to their iPods full of bands no one ever heard of. Everything about him screamed this, from the way his brown hair was styled, messily, but definitely styled, to his graphic tee covered by a leather jacket, to his converse. As Giselle surveyed him, she internally rolled her eyes.

Guyliner? Really? Could he be more of a cliché?

Instead of the usual apology that normally followed when someone bumped into Giselle in the hallway, this person collected himself and simply said, "Texting and walking is almost as deadly as texting and driving." With that, he walked off, leaving Giselle alone to gape at how normally he had treated her.

"Does he…does he know who we _are_?" Giselle stuttered. "Who _I _am? How we practically pay for the desks he'll sit in for the next seven hours?"

"I've never seen him," Haylee said. "He's cute though. And he had a guitar case!"

"She's right," Travis said. "Maybe he could be our new lead. I mean if he plays guitar, he must be able to sing. No one does just one these days." The rest of Vocal Adrenaline murmured in agreement.

Giselle rolled her eyes. "Idiots! All of you! Didn't you see him? He screamed 'annoying emo kid'! There is nothing theatrical about him, and just because he carries around a guitar case doesn't mean he plays," she said, stating all of this as if it were as plain as day.

"She's right," Victoria, one of the younger members, sighed. "That could be all for image."

"Exactly," Giselle said, nodding. "Come on, I can't stand these hallways any longer." She stalked out of the school, slowly realizing, as she arrived at courtyard, how screwed they really were.

She and Jesse never got along, they were both easily the most talented in Vocal Adrenaline, therefore they were always competing for vocal solos, dance solos, ideas, everything. And though he always seemed to beat her, damn that showface he could pull of, she had to admit that he was talented and impossible to replace. They were never going to be the same, she accepted that. But giving up like this, without a male lead, was not going to happen either. But where was she going to find someone who could give them something like what Jesse did?

Giselle sat down away from the rest of Vocal Adrenaline, staring out at the woods behind the school. She grimaced as the rest of the group laughed and joked; completely unaware of how close they were to losing everything. Another thing about Jesse she liked; he was just as serious as she was. She hadn't realized how much she missed that until now. Now, she was alone. And without an official coach, either, it was all riding on her.

Later that day, Giselle was walking down the hallway to her fifth period class, the only class she bothered to go; the young male teacher being the reason. Lunch had just ended, so occasionally there would still be a student loitering at their locker, avoiding whatever class they had now.

During lunch, Giselle had been surprised to see Indie Boy in fact _not_ sitting with the Indies, but actually with the theatre freaks. He didn't seem like theatre was his forte, as he was not flamboyant (call it stereotyping, but it was always the first thing Giselle checked for when she met a male thespian), or dressed in all black carrying a script of a play they had been working on since they were five. Yet he seemed completely at home with them, laughing at jokes surely no one else would get and listening to things _surely _no one besides them even cared about. To Giselle, this only proved she had been right; theatre freaks don't have time for Vocal Adrenaline, so there was no way this boy was their potential lead.

As she walked past a small music room, she heard a guitar being played softly, and a beautiful voice, yes, even she had to admit it was beautiful, accompanying the melody. She recognized the tune as Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day, but the melody had changed slightly, making it more of an acoustic song. She hated Green Day on principle, however this she actually enjoyed.

She found herself forgetting about the class she was supposed to be attending, leaning against the wall, listening to this voice. It wasn't perfect. He had some pitch issues and his projection would need work, and based on this performance he preferred slower songs, which would have to change, but she knew this was their guy.

She opened the door to the music room, ready to break the news to the lucky boy that he had been chosen to join the prestigious Vocal Adrenaline-without the rigorous tryouts, even!-when she saw who the voice belonged to.

"You've got to be kidding me," was all she could say, as she looked at the person before her.

The only thing Giselle hated more than people who didn't respect her, was being wrong.

* * *

**I know I couldn't have made it more obvious who it was, especially if you caught on who Indie Boy is modeled after ;)**

**Next chapter soon! Let me know what you think! **

**xo**


End file.
